Director of Sales Operations/Administration

Steel Partners•Cudahy, WI

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Sales Operations leads the strategic and operational functions that drive profitable, scalable revenue growth. The role owns pricing strategy, quote governance, CRM administration, sales analytics, sales operations, and commercial process improvement. Reporting to the Vice President, Sales & Marketing, the Director directly leads the Inside Sales team and connects Sales, Finance, Operations, and Marketing to promote consistent, disciplined, data-driven commercial operations. The position builds frameworks, systems, and processes that help Sales operate efficiently, price confidently, and grow margin sustainably. The Director develops pricing frameworks and value-based pricing strategies, monitors market and cost changes, reviews exceptional pricing requests, and establishes quote governance and service standards. The role partners with Finance and Operations to validate cost assumptions, monitor margin performance, identify margin-improvement opportunities, and address margin erosion. The Director owns the CRM platform as the source of truth for pipeline, customer, and sales activity data; maintains data standards and workflows; supports system integrations and adoption; and builds dashboards and reporting for pipeline, quote conversion, pricing performance, and sales productivity. The role also oversees day-to-day sales operations and leads improvements to quoting, pricing, order support, CRM usage, and other commercial processes. The position directly manages and develops the Customer Support Manager and Inside Sales Team, setting expectations and performance measures and improving quote conversion, customer satisfaction, and productivity. The role is based primarily in an office setting, with close partnership with plant, sales, and customer-facing teams.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Analytics, or a related field.
At least 7 years of experience in pricing, sales operations, or commercial strategy, including people management experience.
Strong analytical skills and experience building pricing models, dashboards, and KPI frameworks.
Proficiency with CRM and ERP systems.
Demonstrated success leading cross-functional process improvement initiatives.
Customer service leadership experience.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Nice To Haves

MBA.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement pricing frameworks across product lines, customer segments, and regions.
Lead value-based pricing strategies that support revenue growth, profitability targets, and market competitiveness.
Monitor market conditions, competitor pricing, and cost drivers, including commodity and input cost volatility, to inform pricing adjustments.
Model the impact of cost and market movements on product pricing and customer agreements.
Perform quarterly 80/20 analysis and provide recommendations to the business.
Define and maintain pricing approval workflows, escalation procedures, and governance frameworks.
Review high-impact or non-standard pricing requests for profitability, competitiveness, and alignment with commercial strategy.
Establish and enforce quote accuracy, turnaround time, and service-level standards for Inside Sales.
Serve as the escalation point for complex or exception-based pricing and quoting decisions.
Partner with Finance and Operations to validate cost assumptions, monitor margin performance, and identify margin-improvement opportunities.
Lead root cause analysis on margin erosion and drive corrective pricing or process actions.
Own the CRM platform as the source of truth for pipeline, customer, and sales activity data.
Define CRM data standards, workflows, and usage requirements across the sales organization.
Partner with IT/Systems on CRM enhancements, integrations, and adoption.
Ensure pricing, quoting, and customer data are accurately maintained and synchronized across CRM, ERP, and quoting systems.
Build and maintain dashboards and reporting tools covering pipeline, quote conversion, pricing performance, and sales productivity.
Analyze sales and pricing data to identify trends, risks, and growth or improvement opportunities.
Lead day-to-day sales operations, including workflow design, tools administration, and cross-functional coordination among Sales, Customer Service, Operations, and Marketing.
Evaluate commercial workflows to identify inefficiencies and improvement opportunities.
Develop, document, and implement best practices and standard operating procedures across the commercial organization.
Lead root cause analysis on recurring operational, service, and performance issues and implement sustainable corrective actions.
Directly manage and develop the Customer Support Manager and Inside Sales Team.
Establish performance expectations, KPIs, and accountability measures.
Improve quote conversion, customer satisfaction, and productivity.
Ensure the team delivers timely, accurate, customer-focused quote and order support.
Evaluate and champion AI and automation tools that improve quoting speed and accuracy.